Little Miss Claire

You know the baby shower I posted the other day, well here is the baby just a few days after she made her big entrance.

 

I was so happy that she waited until after we got back from vacation to make her appearance, so I got to see her the day after she was born.

I spent most of my visit snuggling this gorgeous little girl and chatting with the very tired parents of now two kids; one toddler and a newborn.

The newborn phase passes so quick in a blur of sleeplessness. After my visit I headed home to my 15 month old and thought “good god, your huge! What happened to my baby??”. I miss the newborn days, the milky smell of their little heads, the softness of their fluffy hair.

 

So glad my friends are having babies so that I can snuggle them and then go home to my kids who tell me “They love me this much (arms stretched as wide as they can reach)”. I may love the newborn phase, but that doesn’t mean I want to live through it again!

Welcome little Miss Claire! Welcome to a family that loves you, and to friends of that family who might snuggle you and squeeze your cheeks occasionally.

 

Moving on up

I know I have been quiet for a few weeks, but I have a very good reason. Two weeks ago I showed up on site for a client, opened up my laptop to turn it on… and nothing happened. Luckily my client had a laptop for me to use, but I was worried about my “baby”. My husband and I had been talking about upgrading my laptop for awhile, but I had been putting it off. My laptop had been with me for 4 years (I know, I know, in computer age that is ancient), went with me to 5 states and 2 countries. I was emotionally invested in my laptop, and even thinking of buying a new computer felt like cheating on it. But my laptop made the decision for me, and the hard drive was kaput. 

Luckily I back up most of my work to the cloud and back everything else up once a month or so. Which meant that I could jump right back into work with a loaner laptop until I could get my laptop situation remedied. Unfortunately the only thing I hadn’t backed up to my back-up drive recently was all my photos that were in progress of being edited. So my laptop is off for a data transfer, and fingers crossed I remembered to back up lightroom recently. I pick up my laptop today, so I will find out whether I will be starting all over in lightroom (so far my user presets aren’t accessible) or if I can pick up where I left up. 

So it will probably be a little while before I start posting photos again. But once I am back up and running (and once I learn this pesky new operating system) I promise I will have lots and lots of photos.

California – San Francisco

Our flight home was in the afternoon, so we headed up early to spend our last morning in California  in San Francisco. We drove up to the golden gate bridge. Fiona was really excited because she has a book about California and it has the golden gate bridge in it. So the entire time she kept saying “its the orange bridge, just like in my book!”

I bundled up the kids, I had to borrow a sweater for Lincoln. I had none in his size since it was summer. And unlike summer in California, summer in Texas does not need a sweater. Luckily Lincoln is big for his age and was able to fit into a sweater that a friends son had recently outgrown.

Fiona had a lot of fun playing and goofing off. She was also being an excellent big sister and helped me push Lincolns stroller around.

Poor Lincoln was miserably sick. He had been running a fever of 103 for 2 days (and he ran it for several more days after we got home). He was a trooper though, he didn’t really fuss but he did nap alot. Every time we got in the car to go somewhere he would sleep. He even slept as Fiona and I pushed his stroller around San Francisco.

We walked out on to the bridge to just over the water. Fiona wanted to keep walking but it was freezing out over the water, and Lincoln was sick so I didn’t want him to get too cold.

But Fiona loved being on the bridge. We pointed out the boats, and we even saw a lone dolphin swimming below us. She watched it for awhile playing in the waves.

I was trying to get Fiona to pose for a photo, which is something she just doesn’t do. I guess when you often have a camera in your face you learn to ignore it, which suits my style of photography. But every once in awhile I would love it if she looked at the camera and smiled. Most of the time when I get a smiling photo its because I sat there with my camera waiting for the moment to take the photo. So we were looking at the bridge and she had stolen my headband to keep the hair out of her face with the wind. And when I asked her to look at me so that I could take a photo she kept covering her eyes and saying it was too bright. So then she stole my sunglasses (after all the were perched on top of my head not being used…) and agreed to at least not cover her face for the photo. You will notice that she is still not looking at me… but I’ll take it!

This is my favorite photo of Fiona from our trip. Its just so Fiona. She is a spunky little 3 year old full of sass.

Pier 39 and the sea lions, I figured since we were in San Francisco we might as well do the touristy thing and go to pier 39. We ate clam chowder (well I ate clam chowder, Fiona had tomato soup and Lincoln had apple sauce), rode the carousel, watched the sea lions and stopped at the candy store. Even picked up a souvenir  snow globe (which Fiona sadly broke at the airport even though she was REALLY careful). We were as touristy as we could get, and the kids loved it.

I’m not sure if it was the wrong time of day, or the wrong season but there wasn’t that many sea lions at the pier. Maybe a third of what is normally there. But the kids still enjoyed watching them. Fiona still talks constantly about our trip to California and about the things we did and the paces we went. We will be heading back out to California in about 5 weeks (well I will be heading out there in 3 weeks, but then we are all heading back out in 5 weeks). Fiona is at a great age that she loves to travel and experience new things, and for the most part she is a great traveler. I hope that Lincoln grows to be an equally great traveler, so far he is a fabulous little traveler and rather pro for 13 months.

Lincoln 10 Months

Once again another month has sped by and your 10 months old now! This month I was home all month and to make up for me being gone I took an absurd amount of photos this month. I was here  to watch you grow and learn all kinds of new things. You are still not crawling, at least not in the traditional sense but you get around. You inchworm your way across the room; lay down on your belly, scoot forward,  then you push yourself back up to seated position, and you are a little closer to your goal. You go backwards much quicker, same maneuver though. You are starting to try to pull yourself up on things. I have a feeling by the time you are 11 months old you will be fully mobile. I already have to keep a much closer eye on you then before, you get yourself into all kinds of trouble.

This month was full of exciting things and milestones; new tooth, learned to clap, learned to point, met family (uncle and nieces), went swimming for the first time, had your first swim lessons, played in the sprinklers (can you tell its summer with all the water related activities?), saw fireworks (although you did fall asleep about 5 minutes into the fireworks display, I have no idea how you slept through that noise!), ate your first PB&J, created art with fingerpaints, went on your first boat ride. Whew, it was a busy month!

Summer is in full swing, and luckily it has not been as hot as last summer (thank goodness!). Temps are still in the 90′s so we have been doing plenty of water activities to stay cool. You got to play in the sprinklers for the first time and you loved it! Im not sure what you thought was funnier; the water hitting you or your sister running around like crazy.

We headed to Lake Travis with some friends to spend the day on their boat. It was one of the few 100+ degree days so we spent alot of time playing in the lake. You got to go swimming for the first time. You weren’t so sure at first, then we out you in your ring and you were a happy little guy. You laid on your belly and kicked and splashed. We have been swimming several times since and you have loved it.

You play with toys way more now. You are such a boy, you love to hit things just to see what happens. And you sometimes just sit there drumming your hands; on balls, balloons, your belly, and sometimes nothing at all. But your whole body gets into it and you drum away. You pretty much get toted along where ever I go, which means when we go to Fiona’s room to get her dressed you come too. The pirate ship is one of the few things Fiona lets you play with in her room. You like to make the parrot talk, and capsize the ship.

You still think everything is funny. You are a fabulously laid back baby, and for the most part still go with the flow. You are starting to show preferences though. For instance your favorite breakfast is banana and oatmeal with cut up blueberries. You will inhale that breakfast morning after morning. You will eat whatever I place in front of you. But there are definitely foods you like eating more. You love pretty much all fruits and veggies, but your favorite fruits are watermelon and cantaloupe  and your favorite vegetable is peas. When ever I cut up your lunch I always cut up way more fruit then I think you will eat and I am always wrong, you normally eat it all and then bang on your tray for more.

We started you in swim class this month. Its never too early to get comfortable in water especially since your part Ewing (us Ewing’s love the water!). You think swim class is a blast. Look at that grin! Im glad you love the water so much because your sister loves to swim, so we are often at the pool.

Your not saying too many words yet but you have ways of letting us know what you want. Mama and dada are often said, and we are pretty sure you call your sippy cup “baba”. You bang on your highchair tray and demand your “baba”. You clap when your happy about something (or air drum, that means your pretty excited about something too). And you point at things. You point all.day.long. You point at your mama, you point at toys that you want, you point at food, your sister, etc.

Each month you grow and learn more its exciting to watch, I wonder what you will learn this month? Happy 10 months Lincoln!

More Nutts

I still haven’t finished editing photos from my trip to California yet. But I am slowly making my way through them. No trip to California is complete without seeing the Nuttmans. They came down for a late afternoon playdate, and we headed over to the park.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, I love those baby blues!

The fabulous Miss O is pretty cute as well. Normally she is like Fiona and impossible to take a photo of, but this time I caught her quietly playing with her brother.

Grant is such a sweetie, He plays so nicely with his big sister. I can only hope my two will be as nice and polite as the Nuttmans when they are older.

Slide hair! The Nuttmans had a lot of fun running around the playground.

Hitting the sippy cup on the walk back to the house.

It is far too long between visits back to CA for social reasons, Im glad that when Im back intown for work I can occassionally squeeze in short visits with my friends. And I am grateful that most of my friends know just how hectic my schedule normally is when I am working and put up with driving 30 minutes to go to the park for an hour.

Visting the Peacocks

On Valentines day Mark and I took Lincoln to Mayfield Park to see the peacocks while Fiona was in school. We walked the trails, looked at the koi ponds and watched the peacocks. After seeing the peacocks I knew I would be bringing Fiona back for a playdate with some friends.

A couple weeks ago that is what I did. The kids and I met some friends at the park. I took an obscene amount of photos of both the peacocks and the kids, so I will do two different posts otherwise you will be scrolling forever.

This beautiful guy met us at the gate. Isn’t he handsome? Actually I think this might be the one who blocked my way into the preserve and I had to sit in the driveway for 5 minutes before he moved and I could pull into the parking lot.

Another peacock was fanning his feathers in attempt to charm the ladies (unfortunately as you can see he recently got into a fight with a wild animal and his neck feathers aren’t looking too good. Not sure if his tail feathers were going to make up for it).

But he tried desperately to charm those ladies and strutted around with those feathers up. I don’t know about the peahens, but I was charmed.

Until he turned around that is….

They are not nearly as pretty from behind.

The peacocks have free roam of the park and are used to humans pestering them for photos.

In Orlando

Im currently working on site in beautiful sunny Orlando. Not that I have seen much of the sun, well I do have a couple of windows… Im working on TEAM Polycom, all my hardwork over the last few weeks is almost over. The exhibit opens in a couple of days and then the presentations starts, and I get to sit back (and work) and watch all my efforts put to use. I like working from home, but sometimes its nice to see what is done with my work. Sometimes I feel as if I set my work free out into the ether and have no idea what becomes of it.

Ive managed to take a lot of photos lately, so there will be new posts coming more frequently once this project is over. But meanwhile here are a few more of Lincoln from my trip to CA.

He and Lily chatted, it was very serious baby conversation. It probably went something like this:
Lily: What is your mama feeding you? Your huge!
Lincoln: Milk does a body good, especially my mama’s milk

I think Lily found his rolls endearing

Lincoln got to take baths in sinks while we were there. Our sink at home is too shallow to really bathe him, he had so much fun sitting up and splashing the water. It was a whole new view on bath time.

I still have a few more photos from CA, but I may do a peacock post next week.

Happy half birthday Lincoln

Some how 6 months have gone by and your a half a year old. For the most part you are a happy, laid back, giggly baby. Your a joy to be around. The only times you get cranky is dinner time (if we aren’t feeding you quickly enough), and when you want to go to sleep. Ahhh, sleep. You are a huge fan of sleep and get rather grumpy if you don’t get at least 16 hours of sleep a day. You are so different then your sister in that regard.

You recently discovered the world of toys that you can play with when you sit up.

You may not roll over much, but you will happily sit up (and have been for several weeks now) and play with toys. Its a much better position to bang on things.

Its been a busy month for you. We graduated from rice cereal to real food. You have so far been a fan of most things, weren’t so keen on peas at first but you grew to like them. Tonight you had broccoli and loved it (that is one way you are like your sister, she loves broccoli!). You rolled over…twice. And you figured out the whole sitting thing. All in all a very exciting month.

We just got back from Lincoln’s 6 month check up. And he is doing fabulous. What you don’t take your camera to dr visits? Yep, I’m that mom.

Still growing and progressing normally. The dr wasn’t concerned that Lincoln could care less about rolling over, especially with how well he can sit up. She said some babies are just content. Thats you Lincoln; content. On your stomach; sure I’ll play like this. On your back? Not a problem. I’m not going to complain that your content with your position.

Now on to the stats. 95% for height, which is  a long 28 inches. and 85% for weight at 19lbs 8oz. Its official Lincoln you are still a big boy (which by the way you think the How Big is Lincoln game is awesome! Raise your arms in the air and you giggle).

Miss Lilly

While I was in CA I had lots of meetings to go to. Some Lincoln went with me to, and when he couldn’t go Jill  offered to watch him. Which was a great excuse to visit my friend and meet her beautiful daughter who is a month older then Lincoln.

Isn’t she gorgeous? Look at those eyes!

She was showing off how strong she is.

After all that tummy time work, she worked up an appetite.

In the beginning these two struggled with nursing. But all the work has paid off and Jill is a pro at it now.

I love seeing my friends as parents. The cute snuggly babies, the love in the parents eyes, and the trust in the babies.

Jill thanks for watching my son, and sharing your afternoon with me. You are one heck of a mama! Im so glad I got to meet Lilly.

Busy, busy, busy

Its once again event season and this year it started off with a bang! Maybe bang isn’t the right word, its more of an entire fireworks display. Since I last posted I’ve worked so many hours that I lost track, I hired an intern and brought on a part time contractor. As the Once-ler would say, I’m biggering and biggering! Yeah I have a two year old and just referenced the Lorax. I feel like all I have done this month is work. I know that’s not true, we have gone to the museum, the park, on picnics, to see the Lorax, to the Rodeo, we have painted, done art projects and learned to decoupage. I work into the wee hours of the morning every night as I desperately attempt to balance work and parenting. I hope Im doing an okay job, and that my kids dont feel totally ignored.

I tried really hard not to skip a week (new years resolution), of blogging but unfortunately I missed last week. I will *attempt* to make it up and do 2 posts nest week. But no promises. I do need to get some sleep! But Im also 6 weeks behind on photos. Yikes! Here is a sneak peek at what is coming next week.

Remember Jill, I snapped some photos of her adorable daughter Lilly (and in the above photo, Lincoln as well) while I was in California last month. Next week I will finally (!) post them.